Jedi Light
by AthosAtTanagra
Summary: Alexsandr Kallus joins the Rebellion but has nightmares of fire and death. He thinks it's his own death foretold, but perhaps the Force has other plans. Meanwhile Hera struggles to tell Kanan how much he means to her. Starts before Zero Hour (Season 3); Spoilers for Season 3 & 4. Alternate ending.
1. Chapter 1

There were flames again in his dream. They danced and licked at his skin, little pinpricks of pain spreading out, engulfing him, covering the sky. Alexsandr Kallus sat up in bed, his heart racing, his skin at once feverish and icy cold. It was not the first time. He'd been dreaming of fire so often these nights. There was fire, and a pain that started in his chest, like his heart had been torn out, and spread to every point in his body. The pain always woke him up, and he wanted to wrap his arms around himself and weep like a child, until the feeling of despair let up and he could breathe again.

He looked around his bare cabin, its contents held little meaning to his existence. Hidden behind the regulation books on his shelf, lay the glowing orb Zeb had left with him on the icy moon of Geonosis. Every day it was harder to go to sleep here, in this sterile place. Every day he became more rebel and less imperial agent, and it was harder and harder to do his part convincingly.

He forced his legs over the side of his bed and dressed.

Then there was that new lieutenant from Coruscant. His instincts told him something was off with her. She was meticulous and self assured, in that imperial officer way, but something about her didn't fit. He wondered if she'd been sent to flush him out, the spy that Thrawn knew was still in their ranks.

And that day, she'd taken to following him. Kallus turned the corner and lay in wait. She came into view, uniform hat low on her eyes and he grabbed her by the front of her tunic and slammed her into the wall.

"State your business, lieutenant," he growled in her face. The top of her head almost reached his nose, and he was a tall man. She looked into his eyes, surprised more than frightened. Either a straight forward imperial fanatic, or something else altogether. Something about her looked familiar.

"Why are you following me?" he bit out again, putting all the menace he knew in to the words.

She glanced up and down the hall, checking for witnesses. Bright cold amber eyes. No fear.

"He knows it's you," she said.

"What?" Kallus barked, taken aback. He must have misunderstood her meaning.

"He's known for a while and is using you to send them false information."

"Who are you?" he asked, his face a suspicious mask.

"You don't remember me, do you?" she said with a mocking smile. "I guess you can't remember everyone whose life you destroyed. It would cause quite the mental clutter."

He drew back, as if she had slapped him. He took in her features, amber eyes, straight nose, full lips. Her hair was covered under her hat. Why couldn't he remember?

"Don't strain yourself Agent Kallus," she said coldly. "You can call me Doppler 1. I'm with the Rebellion." Her attention shifted. "I hear steps," she said. He heard it too. The sharp cadence of troopers in their clanky armour.

She pushed against his chest, just a touch, and despite himself, he released her and stepped back. His life was unraveling fast.

"Why would I trust you?" he asked, his mind racing.

Her face twisted briefly with hardly hidden disdain.

"Because apparently there are people in the Rebellion who will overlook what you've done. Take it or leave it. They're just orders to me. Here," she passed a paper into his hand.

"What is this?"

"Communications frequency. In case you need an emergency pick-up."

She turned on her heel and walked the other way, and Kallus forced himself to do the same before the troopers came into view. The cold sense of being watched slithered down his back and he resisted the urge to physically reach a hand to rub the back of his neck. Not that saving face now made any difference. Thrawn had played him, used him, and now was about to tighten the noose.

And then he remembered. A sunny day on Lothal, troopers arresting a group of farmers, and his own voice, cold and self-satisfied saying, "Burn it all down. Let this be a lesson of how the Empire deals with those who cause sedition." A young woman struggling with a trooper, breaking free and almost making it into one of the buildings before she was dragged out. "Take her away," Kallus had ordered looking straight at her. The straight nose, full lips, wheat coloured hair, braided loosely over one shoulder, the stark look of anger and helplessness in her amber eyes.

Kallus squeezed his eyes shut, but it did nothing to block the memory of the rising flames. Where these the flames in his dreams, he wondered. He forced his thoughts to the present. He had to hang in there a little while longer. Governor Pryce and Admiral Konstantine had been summoned to Thrawn, and he had to find out what they were discussing. He had an idea, he just needed to look for a mouse droid that would fit into an air duct.

He went about his tasks like a man in a trance, expecting an arrest to descent on him any moment.


	2. Chapter 2

"Thank you for risking everything," Kanan had said to him, and Kallus felt humbled by the Jedi's generosity.

He felt both relief and guilt at how easily the Ghost's crew had taken him in, how ready to forgive and forget his past sins, especially Zeb who had so much reason to hate him instead. He leaned heavily against the wall of the Ghost's hallway. His head was pounding. The swelling around his left eye had gone down significantly, although he'd be sporting a black eye for a while, and he thought at least two of his ribs were fractured, but not broken. All in all, he'd gotten away easily. Unlike all those who'd lost their lives.

They had survived against all odds Thrawn's attack on Chopper Base. He'd used Dopper 1's frequency code and the Ghost crew had picked him up.

Leaning on the metal hull, he lowered himself gingerly to the floor amongst the other survivors. Others had injuries worse than his own, yet they sat there, silent, their eyes fixed on things unseen.

It was hours later, tired and stiff from sitting cramped together in the Ghost's corridors and cargo holds, that they reached the rendezvous, and hours more until they reached their new base on Yavin 4.

It was nighttime in the northern hemisphere on Yavin 4, a clear night full of stars and the sounds of the forest. He shivered in his dress uniform and helped the others unload and organize whatever supplies they had rescued from Atollon. It had been a while since he'd done menial tasks such as this. He'd worked hard in the imperial academy, risen to the top, and had aimed even higher before it all came crashing down like a house of straw. He had been proud of his accomplishments. Now he was nothing. His imperial experience both an asset to the Rebellion, and a stain on his name. Kallus clenched his jaw. He was free. He was no longer living a lie. He could work hard again.

Chopper unloaded another round from the Ghost's cargo bay.

"Kallus and Zeb, unload these and register them with AP-5 and Bell Kato," Hera had said to him, "and then you can bunk with us. Sabine, find General Dodonna and get us some food rations for tonight and tomorrow. Ezra and Rex can start moving the wounded to the medical tent."

"Where do you want me?" Kanan asked.

"On the Ghost," Hera said. "I need to talk to you."

Everyone scattered to their tasks. He was now officially part of the rebellion, Kallus thought. He drew in a painful breath and rubbed his fractured ribs, and then he started lifting crates onto the levitating cart alongside Zeb.

He reached the central record keeper, Bell Kato, and did a double take. Gone was the imperial officer outfit and arrogance she'd employed for her cover. She was wearing civilian clothes and her face and arm were bandaged. But the amber eyes were unmistakable.

She stared at him.

"So, you're alive," she said without any enthusiasm.

"Thanks to your frequency codes," he said.

"Yay for me," she said dryly.

"I remember you," he told her.

"Should I be flattered?" Her sarcasm was cutting. Kallus squeezed his fists tight.

"I am sorry for what I did to you, and your family."

"Oh, no problem," she said dramatically. "It's all good now that you've switched sides. Water under the bridge."

"I understand that you don't like me," he said, in his direct way.

"Don't like you?" she said, her voice clipped. "I am not required to like you."

"I'm sorry you lost people."

"Yes, I lost people. Good people, who didn't deserve to go out this way," she ground out, wiping the back of her hand over her eyes, angrier for showing him any weakness. She closed her mouth in a tight, angry line, and shook her head.

"However you feel about me, and despite the things I have done in the past, I am sorry," he said, feeling like he would never be able to say it enough.

"I have work to do," she said, turning her back to him, and started registering the crates that the Ghost had saved from Atollon.

"She doesn't like you much, does she?" Zeb said from behind him. Kallus shrugged. He shouldn't let this bother him. Just because he had put his life in danger didn't mean he didn't have atoning to do, or that everyone would just welcome him with open arms.

"You've met Bell before?" Zeb asked.

"Yes," Kallus admitted, "When I burned her farm down on Lothal."

"Yeah, that would do it," Zeb said giving him a look. "This might take some time."

Kallus nodded. His eyes followed her. He should have known it wouldn't be that easy.

…

Hera glanced furtively in Kanan's direction. She knew she should be focusing on the briefing, but she could feel his attention on her like a spotlight. She wasn't force sensitive, but when it came to Kanan, she had a sort of second sight. They've often been away on different assignments, and hardly have had a quiet night, but it had never shaken the bond between them. But this was new territory for them. Their lives were about to change again.

"You're sure?" he'd asked her earlier, a trace of boyish wonder in his voice, his hands encircling her waist with a reverent gentleness.

"I'm sure," she'd said watching his face. The terror and joy of it. All real. She touched her forehead to his.

"Hera, this is… I mean …" but he didn't get to finish.

They'd been called into this briefing, interrupted like the dozen other times when they had tried to talk to each other. Although if she was honest with herself, she hadn't set aside much time for the two of them lately. She'd thrown herself into the rebellion thinking Kanan would always be at her side. And although she implied it daily, she'd never actually told him how she felt. Today on Atollon she could have lost him. Or she could have died herself, taking one secret she'd never meant to keep from him with her.

So, after they'd landed on Yavin 4 and the others had left the ship she'd pulled him into the lounge and unceremoniously put his hand on her still flat belly. She felt him go still as understanding dawned. He added the second hand beside the first, and she knew he was feeling out with the force.

"Hera," he'd started, and his voice cracked with emotion.

She glanced at him now, the painted faceplate blank, but had there been seeing eyes underneath it, they would be looking straight at her, she was sure. She could feel him thinking, processing the news she'd given him, and how it would change their lives.

"We've reassigned more people under your command," General Dodonna was saying, "those who survived from other teams impacted on Atollon." Hera realized belatedly that he was speaking to her.

More team members. She had already taken Rex, and now Kallus. But Sabine could be returning to Mandalore, and even if she didn't, they could use the help. And Kanan didn't really need that cabin of his. She would tell him. She would tell him everything he'd been waiting so long to hear. She wasn't sure why she'd never worked up the courage to do it. They'd almost died. And now they had even more to live for.

"Mart, Wedge and Hobbie are officially Phoenix Squadron now," she told the others.

"So, it's a children's army now," Zeb commented.

Hera looked grim, but didn't comment. "Kallus and Bell will be joining us on the Ghost for now," she told the others. "It's good. We've worked with Bell before, and both of them have experience on Lothal. If we ever get that plan together again."

"What do you mean, if?" Ezra demanded, but Hera didn't feel up to breaking his bubble just yet.

"I don't think Bell joining the Ghost is a good idea," Zeb said to her afterwards. "She hasn't taken a shine to Kallus."

"She'll have to adjust," Hera said, her eyes searching for Kanan in the crowd.

"No, let me rephrase that," Zeb said. "I think she actually hates him."

Hera pivoted on her heel to face Zeb straight on. He took a step back.

"You're giving me your scary face," he complained.

"Unless you think she's actually going to murder him in his sleep, I don't want to hear anything else about it. She'll have to get used to it, like the rest of us. We all have to work together if we're to survive." She huffed a loud breath. "Now out of my way. I have to find Kanan."

"Sca-ry," Zeb muttered, watching Hera walk away. "I guess that's why she's a General."

"You guessed right, big guy," Sabine said at his elbow. "Now come and help me unload the sorry remains of our ammunition."


	3. Chapter 3

"Oh, it's you," Bell said, startled.

Kallus nodded and stepped off the ladder into the gun turret. It was long past midnight and he'd woken up out of the familiar dream of flames. Fire and more fire. His legacy and perhaps his fate, he thought.

It started with a spark, small and fast. The flames burst up, blue and white, hot, hungry. A roaring inferno, unstoppable, irrepressible. It flashed and devoured every thing in its path. This was where he always woke, with his heart pounding and his chest hurting like he'd lost something, something important.

He'd tossed his blanket off and sat up cross-legged on his top bunk, struggling to breathe and fight down the feeling of panic. Was this something he'd done in the past? He just couldn't remember. He'd rubbed his temples as if the gesture could push the memory up to the surface. But there was nothing.

He'd stumbled out to the refresher on bare feet, trying not to wake Rex in the bunk below. Bell had been sitting in the turret gun chair, feet up, hugging her knees.

Hera was flying them through the night, trying to reach an outer rim outpost for a rendezvous for supplies. It had been weeks since Atollon, and the Resistance was picking up the pieces, but much too slow. To Ezra's frustration, the operation to free Lothal had fallen by the wayside, another belated casualty of Thrawn's attack. And morale was dangerously low. They needed this supply run to work.

"You're here a lot," Kallus said. "Trouble sleeping?"

"No, I sleep like a baby, thank you," she said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. She didn't want further conversation with him, he knew that. She either used the briefest responses with him, or bit his head off. He didn't know what self-punishing streak was pushing him to keep trying to make his peace with her. Or maybe it was the stubborn streak that made him rise through the ranks in the imperial military.

"Thinking about your team?" he asked.

"You think I should be over it by now?" she bit back.

"I don't think you ever get over it," he said.

"What do you know about it?" she flared. "It's not like you've ever been the lone survivor of a group of people you cared about."

"Hard to believe, but yes. Once upon a time," he said quietly. "They've been dead a long time now."

Her eyes narrowed.

"Sorry, no sympathy left for ex-imperial intelligence agents who burn down your house. You don't get to get off so easily," she whispered fiercely.

The ship jerked suddenly out of hyper speed, and Kallus felt his body fly back and knock into the bulkhead. Bell slammed against him. His arms came about her and he held her as the ship rocked and jerked. They hit the gunner chair, and she took the impact on her right side. They fell sideways and Kallus twisted to keep her from being crushed beneath him.

When the shaking stopped she jumped away from him like he was infected with the plague.

"What was that?" Bell asked holding her side where it had hit the chair. Kallus struggled to his feet, his chest and back still aching from the impact with the floor.

"I need you all at stations," Hera's voice came through the comm. "We have hostiles."

…

"I am definitely the better shot," Zeb said to an incredulous Ezra.

Their supply run had been successful, despite the little skirmish at the entrance of the sector. They were on their way back to base, and after dinner, Bell had offered to pilot the ship while the others gathered in the lounge to watch Zeb and Ezra play holochess. The two had also been arguing constantly about which one of them had shot the last bogie on their way out.

"You keep believing that, if it makes you feel happy," Ezra replied, focusing on the game board between them. "But there's absolutely no debate that I am better at holochess." He moved one of his figures across the board, and watched it knock over Zeb's queen. "Check mate," Ezra said with barely contained satisfaction.

Hera tried to hide her amusement by turning her face towards Kanan who was lounging beside her on the rounded couch. Kanan's arms were draped over the backrest, and one rested lightly on Hera's right shoulder.

Chopper womped repeatedly, the sound suspiciously like gloating. Kallus didn't understand the droid that well most of the time, but he got the gist of it when Zeb slammed his fist into Chopper's dome.

"You be quiet, you rust bucket," Zeb snarled. "It's not like I'm going to make a career out of holochess when this is all over."

Sabine leaned back in her seat. "What are you going to do when all this is over?" she asked the Lasat.

"When?" Zeb asked.

"Yes," Sabine agreed, "You correctly heard me say when and not if. Indulge me."

Zeb went all quiet, thinking about it.

"I've never thought much about it," he admitted, then turned silent.

"How about you, Hera?" Sabine asked.

"I don't know. Help rebuild, wherever it's needed," she looked at Kanan again and Kallus thought there was something unspoken between them about the future. He saw Kanan squeeze Hera's shoulder, and she reached back and placed her hand over his.

"Would you rebuild the Jedi order?" Kallus asked Kanan.

Kanan narrowed his lips and tilted his head.

"That is a good question," he said quietly. "I've never completed my training. I don't know if I would qualify or want to reinstate the order, at least not as it used to be." He paused and shook his head. "Although I see the merits of not letting it all die."

"I could help," piped in Ezra.

"Ah, that would be like the blind leading the blind," Zeb told him, then looked embarrassed. "No offense, Kanan."

Kanan grinned. "None taken."

Ezra punched Zeb's shoulder, but Zeb grabbed him and pulled him forward, locking Ezra's head underneath his arm. Ezra struggled uselessly for a while.

"Don't make me use the force on you," Ezra threatened the Lasat.

"What about you, Rex?" Sabine asked, ignoring them.

"Ah, I guess I'd go back to Seelos with the boys, hunt for joopas." He linked his hands behind his head. "That was the life," he said wistfully.

"Sorry for interrupting your retirement," Kanan said to him.

"No matter," Rex waved him off. "I hate to say it, but once a solder, always a soldier. And at least this time it's on my terms."

"What about you, Kallus?" Zeb asked, finally releasing Ezra. "Since we're doing the rounds."

"I don't even know what my life in the Rebel Alliance looks like yet," he said thoughtfully. "I don't have a clue what comes after." He looked down at his hands. "I want to help fix things. If I live that long."

The cabin went silent.

"Womp, woooop, wa wa wop," said Chopper into the silence and twirled his top.

"Chopper!" exclaimed Hera. "No one asked you!" But Sabine and Ezra were laughing. Kanan hid his smile pretending to cough into his elbow. Hera squinted at him, undeceived.

"I think that's a great idea Chop," said Ezra.

"I agree," said a voice over the comm. "I'd be up for that."

"Bell!" exclaimed Hera. "Are you eavesdropping?"

"Well, what else would I do?" Bell laughed over the comm. "It's lonely up here all by myself. No imperials, no bogies. And you guys are so entertaining. And you, Sabine?" Bell asked. "Since you started this, it's only fair …"

Sabine smiled evasively. "Well, I also have not thought that far. But I am sure I will find an equally impossible task to tackle as the one at hand. Something will present itself."


	4. Chapter 4

Lothal loomed large below them. Burning. Kallus balled his hands into fists. He looked away from the window and from Ezra's incredulous face, and saw Bell Kato watching him with narrowed eyes. There was no way to hide it. He'd contributed to this.

He swallowed, clenching his jaw until it hurt. She might never forgive him. He might have to accept that and learn to live with it. The taste of failure was bitter, and it was not in his nature to give up. It was time to focus on the mission. And focusing was one thing he was good at.

Investigating the new TIE/D Defender was one thing. Getting back out alive past the planetary blockade was another. Doing any kind of significant damage seemed like a fool's hope. But being in the rebellion he'd learned that they were all fools for hope.

Everything was harder. Troop presence on the streets had increased overwhelmingly. It was hard to push on, not to get mired down and give up. Zeb, Kallus and Bell were supposed to lay low while the other contacted Ryder Azadi and found some transportation. But they hadn't been able to lay low long before they were flushed out.

"Kallus, a hand!" Zeb shouted, pulling at the gun.

They were pinned by troopers and now they were getting swarmed. They'd recovered a speeder, but it would not carry all three. Zeb had fought his way to a field blaster gun and knocked out the operator, and was struggling to turn it around. Kallus rushed to help him.

"Take the speeder and get out of here," Kallus yelled over his shoulder to Bell, who was giving them cover fire from the alley across.

"I'm not leaving," she shouted back. "Don't be an idiot."

"Zeb and I will manage."

Kallus reached Zeb and together they heaved the heavy turret and aimed it at the incoming walkers.

"Sure, you will!" Bell yelled back angling herself forward to shoot at the troopers charging in.

"Damn it, Kato," Kallus yelled. "There's no point in all of us getting killed." It frustrated him that she wouldn't ever listen to him, even if it was to save her life. Like she would rather die than be indebted to him.

"Just to be clear," she shouted, "I'm fine with you getting killed. I just don't like Zeb to go down with you."

Zeb chuckled, but Kallus wasn't so sure it was a joke.

"Just take that walker down already!" she yelled. She hopped on the speeder, and instead of flying down the street away from the fighting, she drove it forward into the charging troopers, knocking them to the ground and giving Zeb the opening he needed to fire at the walkers. She ran back towards them and sat down behind the gun.

"Great," Kallus said to her, "now you lost the speeder."

"Oh, pardon me for helping!" she shot back.

"Bullseye," muttered Zeb, as the walker exploded. "Would you two please stop bickering!"

"If she'd just do something strategically sound, I would," Kallus said.

"I don't take orders from you," she bit out. "All your fancy strategy and the Specters always bested you."

"You both take your orders from me," yelled Zeb. "Now take this one: shut it, and try to work together! You're welcome to kill each other in private once we are safely away from here."

Another walker turned the corner.

"Ugh, it never ends," Zeb complained.

"Hold this," Bell said to Kallus, and passed him an armed mine.

"Woah," he said. "There are less messy ways to kill me, if that is your goal."

She armed another mine, counted to three and they both tossed them together down the street towards the incoming troopers. The mines knocked down most of them, but a handful kept on coming. They engaged Kallus and Bell close up, and one of them surprised Zeb, with a blaster pressed against his back. Kallus shoved his own assailant backwards with a yell, and swinging around, blasted the trooper down.

"Thanks!" said Zeb. "I owe you one."

"No," Kallus disagreed. "I'm not even sure we're even."

Behind them they heard the tell-tale zing of the Jedi light sabers, and soon Kanan and Ezra were beside them with Hera right behind, driving a land speeder.

"In!" Hera yelled, and they scrambled to obey. "We have contact and an extraction point."

"Everything is so much harder," Sabine complained, falling in beside them on a single speeder.

"They've multiplied," Zeb commiserated.

They lurched forward towards Bell who was getting to her feet amongst the fallen troopers, and she reached out her hand and Kallus pulled her in. It was a tight squeeze, and she reluctantly grabbed the side of his jacket to hold herself from being tossed out of the vehicle. His arms came around her and that's when he felt the wetness on the back of her shirt. She winced.

"How bad?" he asked, looking at his fingers that had come away red.

"It's just a scratch," she said, not meeting his eyes. She pushed against his upper arms until he released her, and sat with her head turned defiantly away. Kallus watched the blood stain on her back spreading, and pressed his lips tightly together.

A blockade ahead forced them to abandon the speeder and use the tunnels under the town, but they were pursued at every turn. Somehow they made it through the tunnels to the exit where Azadi was waiting for them and drove them out of the city.

When they had reached Azadi's camp, Kallus offered to patch up Bell's wound.

"No, thank you," Bell said and walked away.

Hera watched them and sighed.

"I was hoping she would have put her dislike of Kallus behind her," she said to Kanan.

"I think she already did that," Kanan said quietly, looking away, as if he could see into the distance.

"What do you mean?" Hera asked.

"Just a feeling," Kanan replied.

"Well, whatever their bickering is," said Hera, "it better not interfere with the mission."

Kanan put both his hands on her shoulders.

"Is the mission the all and end all?" He asked her quietly. She knew what he was asking, and it was not about the mission at all. For all her good intentions, things had been too busy and she just hadn't done what she'd wanted to do. She hadn't really answered his questions about their future. She hadn't told him how she felt.

"Kanan," she started, "this is for Ezra."

"I know. But what's for you?"

"This is for me," she said and wrapped her arms around his waist, resting her head on his chest.

Kanan sighed, and lowered his chin to rest on the top of her head. Someone called her name in the distance. He loosened his hold on her, used to letting her go, used to other things taking precedence.

She tightened her hands on him.

"Kanan, I …" she started, but Azadi was almost upon them and there was so much to do. So she let go and he had to as well.

…

"What's the deal with you and Kallus?" Sabine asked Bell.

They were out on the recon trip to the TIE/D Defender testing ground. Azadi, Ezra and Zeb just far enough not to hear Sabine's quiet question.

Bell looked at her sideways. She opened her mouth to say there was none, but Sabine raised an eyebrow at her before the words made it out. Bell rolled her eyes.

It had helped that Sabine was younger, and that she was so direct, so unapologetic of getting right to the point. Bell hadn't expected to make a friend. Not after what happened at Atollon. She'd tried not to let it happen. If you didn't get attached, you couldn't get hurt, but Sabine wouldn't have any of that, and Bell knew she would never be a resolute cynic. She didn't have it in her.

"I … don't know," she finally said.

She could feel Sabine's disbelieving look.

"I really wanted to keep hating him," Bell admitted.

"So, you've forgiven him."

Bell hushed her, sneaking a glance towards where the others were. Sabine waited than raised both eyebrows.

"I don't know if I would go that far," Bell muttered reluctantly.

"But you heckle him all the time," Sabine pointed out. "He still thinks you hate his guts and would murder him in his sleep."

"Now that's extreme. I don't hate him."

"Then why do you do it?" Sabine asked. Bell hated how Sabine kept digging and digging until she got to the point.

"So that he doesn't think I don't hate him," Bell admitted.

Sabine raised an eyebrow. "Would that be so bad?"

"Yeah. Maybe. I don't know," Bell sighed. "He's really sincerely here. I mean, committed to the rebellion. He's pulling his weight and there must be a reason Zeb treats him like a kindred spirit. But that doesn't wipe the slate clean, does it?"

Sabine sighed and looked away.

"And it's like my mouth goes off on autopilot when he's around," Bell continued. "As if I want to see if Agent Kallus will emerge if I needle him long enough. I know, it's stupid."

Sabine shook her head and placed her hand on Bell's arm. "No, it's not stupid. You're entitled to not trust easily, to want to test him, after all the history you have with him."

They were quiet a while. Sabine checked their target through her scope again.

"But one thing I learned," Sabine said, "living as we do, is that if you have something to say to someone, you should say it today, 'cause you never know if they're going to be around tomorrow."

"Thanks for that very profound advice, master Jedi."

Sabine huffed a breath and gave her a sideways grin. "They rub off on you," she replied.


	5. Chapter 5

Kallus sat on the flat rock looking at the clear, star-filled sky above the grassy plain.

Hera had escaped the blockade in the stolen TIE/D Defender. At least Kanan assured them that she had. They were now waiting to hear if the Rebellion would approve an attack to destroy the Lothal factory. An attack that was, in Kallus' view, practically impossible with Thrawn's current blockade on the planet. He'd voiced his opinion against it, but secretly hoped that Hera had it in her to prove him wrong one more time.

It was so peaceful here, as if the Empire didn't and had never existed. He often wondered of late what his life might have been like if the Republic had never fallen.

He might not have lost his parents so early, might not have entered the military to satisfy his inner urge for order and security, might not have helped kill the Lasat people.

Might, might, might ...

"Don't let it get to you," Zeb had said to him. "It's who you are now that matters. Not what you've been. You know what I think." He'd said it like his was the definitive opinion and in many ways it was. Zeb was the one that had gotten through to Agent Kallus, gotten him out.

"Thank you, my friend," Kallus had told Zeb, bowing his head.

Alone under the Lothal night, Kallus tried to hold on to that. His mind went back to his conversation with Kanan earlier that day. He'd told him about the recurring dreams, about the fire. The Jedi had listened, his head tilted towards him, his body tense.

"Sit with me a while," Kanan had invited him.

They sat together on the Lothal smooth rock, Kanan's favoured place, overlooking the plains. Kallus tried to clear his thoughts, relax and not purposely search his mind for memories or similarities with his dreams.

"Do you think it's latent Force sensitivity?" Kanan asked him.

Kallus shook his head.

"I doubt it. I grew up on Coruscant, while the Jedi Order still stood. I was never identified as Force sensitive."

"Coruscant was my home also," Kanan said. "A lifetime away."

"It was another world," Kallus agreed. "I remember little of the Jedi. Always away on military campaigns against the Separatists during those last few years. How easily we believed that the Jedi had turned traitors. I was twenty-three when the Republic fell, and I wanted so badly to fix all the chaos around me." He fell silent a while, remembering.

"And yet the Force is trying to tell you something now. Trying to unlock some memory, or prepare you for something in the future. It's hard to tell." Kanan sighed. "When did it start?"

"Sometime after Geonosis," Kallus replied. "After I started transmitting to the Rebellion as Fulcrum."

"It can't be a coincidence." Kanan said. "I'm sorry I don't have more answers for you. I hope more will be revealed to you when you need it."

He hadn't expected miraculous answers. He was just relieved to share it with someone, and Kanan had been the obvious choice. He tried clearing his mind again, trying to see the images of the dream, pinpoint some unnoticed object that would give him more insight.

The Lothal night was so peaceful. The camp was asleep. He should have been able to relax, but there was something. Something coming, like fire and pain, he couldn't quite describe it or name it. Whatever the Force was trying to tell him. Kallus heard a loth-wolf howl into the night. A knot formed in the pit of his stomach.

Perhaps this is where I die, he thought, and then felt the sting of angry tears behind his eyes. If he died now, his definitive life's work would still be his deeds under the Empire, destroying a world, genocide. He'd barely turned his life around. There was so much to do still. But people didn't get to bargain when their time came.

He heard footsteps and turned. It was Bell Kato. He rose to his feet like a trooper standing to attention.

"I didn't know you were out here," she said when she noticed him there.

"It's peaceful here," he said.

"This is the calm before the storm, I think."

It was the first time she hadn't referenced the Empire when talking to him, or blamed him. Kallus could barely believe his ears.

"I know you hate me. I don't blame you. But I am trying to make amends."

Her brows furrowed and she looked away.

"I don't hate you," she said quietly and he thought he must have misheard her. "I wanted to, though."

Kallus took a while for her words to sink in. He bowed his head.

"What happened to your people?" he asked her. "After I burned down the farm."

"Azadi's people hit the convoy as it headed towards the capital. They escaped and went into hiding on the other side of Lothal." She looked westward as if she could see across the planet to them if she looked hard enough. "I had a contact in the Rebellion. I joined up."

He watched her amber eyes, trying to figure out what she was thinking.

"I wish I could take away what I did. Give you back your team. Your friends. Your farm."

"You're not responsible for every act of the Empire," she said quietly, almost reluctantly. A shadow crossed her face. "And I hated farming," she said, and turned her back to him. He saw the dark stain on the back of her new shirt.

"Your "just a scratch" is bleeding again," he said, unable to keep the frustration from his voice.

"I guess you'd better patch me up," she said. His eyes widened, but he didn't comment. He followed her into camp to one of the tents, and pulled down the med kit from a shelf while she struggled to get out of her outer shirt.

"Let me help you," he offered.

"I can manage."

"Are you always this stubborn, or do I just bring out the best in you?"

He heard her huff out a breath, but she let him pull the shirt over her arm and head.

"Sit down," he ordered and felt her stiffen all over. "Please," he added, softer.

Her head turned slightly towards him and their eyes met over her shoulder. She sat down. With surgical precision he removed her bandage and scowled at the gash across her back.

"You went to work on that broken shuttle of Azadi's instead of resting," he said finally when he could hold back no longer. "You pulled out the engine. Moved the fuel canisters. Rewired the autopilot."

"Are you going to list what I had for dinner too?"

He swallowed the words and inhaled though his nose.

"Someone had to fix that shuttle," she said.

"Azadi's got engineers, Bell," he said. "He didn't need you coming from off planet to fix his shuttle." He saw her flush and turn her head away.

"I needed to do something. I want this to work," she said quietly.

"You mean Lothal, not Azadi's shuttle engine."

"I don't want to lose anyone else," Bell whispered.

"It will all work out," he said a bit too forcefully.

Liar, his mind screamed. Flashes of fire danced behind his eyes. He shook his head. He willed the echoes of his nightmares away.

He placed his hand on her shoulder, turning his attention to her wound. She startled for a moment and then held still. Her skin was warm under his fingertips. The pulse at the base of her throat fluttered and she swallowed. He sealed the tear without further comment and helped her slip the shirt back on.

"Thank you," she said, looking at him over her shoulder, but he'd already turned his back to put the med kit away.

"You're welcome," he replied without turning.

He felt her hesitating in the doorway.

"Good night, then," she finally said. He heard the door open and shut as she left the tent.

"Good night," he answered into the empty space.

He lay on his bunk late into the night, his palms still burning from the feel of her skin, wondering how big of a fool he was going to be.

…

Kallus checked the time yet again. They should have reached Hera by now.

He hated being right, he thought. Thrawn had repelled the Rebel fleet attack before it entered the atmosphere. In fact, the first they realized just how thoroughly the plan had failed, was when they watched the attack force's fighters fall from the sky and crash in and around Capital City.

Hera had been captured along with other survivors. If there had been any others, Kallus thought grimly. He'd helped Sabine and Ezra build their gliders for the rescue attempt, kept his thoughts to himself.

He'd watched them fly away soundlessly into the night, and that strange heavy knot had started forming again in the pit of his stomach. Something, something, was afoot. Something that had started with his recurrent dreams of fire. As the day faded into night, his dreams of fire flashed behind his eyelids. He could see it in the mountains. He could see it in the tall grass. It was everywhere, surrounding him. There was no escape.

He'd watched Kanan chop his hair off and leave his eye shield in the cave, with a sense of dread. He'd never seen the Jedi so still, his movements so precise and calculated. He'd looked younger without his beard, like he had shed all disguises, but he'd moved like an old man.

He clenched his jaw until it hurt. Fire and pain were coming. The kind of pain that started in the chest and spread all over the body, immobilizing and tearing the mind apart. The pain of death, and the pain that death left behind.

A loth-wolf howled, and Kallus felt the sound shiver up his spine. He jerked back and saw the wolf standing by the shuttle. The shuttle that Bell had fixed.

It was not part of the plan. He could really make a mess of things if he was wrong, but ... it was just there, a feeling, a pull. And if this was truly his end, at least he would make amends.

He jumped down from the rock and raced to the shuttle.

"Kallus!" He heard Bell's shout behind him. "Where are you going?"

"They need help!" he told her.

"How do you know?"

"A feeling."

"I'm coming with you."

"No, you're not."

"You can't just go alone!" she yelled at him. "What about the plan?"

"Forget the plan," he retorted. "I have a feeling," he added, cringing at how foolish it sounded when said out loud. He was a man of order, of discipline. If this is what the Force did to you, interfered, changed your plans, made you live like a leaf carried by the wind, he could see why he'd never understood the Jedi. And why they had always foiled his plans.

"What happened to doing things that are strategically sound?"

"Forget strategically sound. It never worked anyway," he told her, covering the rest of the distance to the shuttle.

"That's not very reassuring, Kallus," she shouted after him.

"Alexsandr," he said.

"What?"

"My name," he called out. "My name is Alexsandr."

He ran into the shuttle, slammed into the pilot seat and took off, closing the ramp as he rose. Through his windshield he saw her face as she watched him rise into the air. She looked genuinely concerned and it almost made him turn back, but something was pulling at him, something sharp and urgent. The wolf howled and Kallus tore his eyes away from Bell's and pushed the shuttle's engines to the max.


	6. Chapter 6

"I know what to say now. I love you," Hera said atop the fuel pod, and watched the emotions run across Kanan's face. He huffed out a breath, almost like a sob, and turned his face away.

"Must be the drugs talking," he said.

"No! It's me. All me." She walked to him and kissed him, trying to pull all that hurt in his eyes from his lips into hers. How could she had left it this late, she wondered. She'd been so careless to hold it to herself all this time.

When the force had spoken to him though the loth-wolves, Kanan had understood Kallus dreams. There hadn't been any point telling him about it. The dreams would likely stop after this day. After his death. This was his destiny.

"Hera, there's something I should tell you," he started, but the engine of an approaching shuttle drowned his words. They looked up and saw the imperial shuttle hovering in the air, Sabine at the helm. Right on time. Ezra opened the side hatch and Sabine lowered the shuttle to the top of the tank.

A roar of engines split the night, and another shuttle flew above them and down towards the entrance of the fuel depot.

"Is that?" Hera started.

"Yes, Azadi's shuttle," Kanan agreed, equally startled.

"Who's flying it?" Ezra shouted over the roar of their own engines. "What are they doing here? This was not part of the plan."

"I don't really care!" yelled Sabine from the cockpit over the comm. "Get yourselves inside and let's get off this powder keg."

They heard the clanking of walkers in the distance and saw Governor Pryce's troops come around the corner.

"Get in! Get in now!" Sabine yelled again, punching the take off sequence.

Then the lead walker fired, and time slowed down. There wasn't enough time. No time for them to take off safely once that blast hit the fuel pod beneath them. Kanan saw it as clear as day, as if his eyes had been restored. His moment had come. His destiny was at hand.

Instead of jumping aboard, Kanan pushed Hera away from him. He braced his feet, his body tense like a bowstring. Hera's eyes went wide, Ezra's too behind her, both their gazes on Kanan.

A sharp sound like a blast canon hitting plated metal split the air. Kanan, braced for the explosion, but it never came. It took him a second to process, to get over the surprise. He turned his head. The rebel shuttle had intercepted the blast, put itself between the walkers and the fuel tanks. It had taken a serious hit, but was coming around for another round, aimed at the lead walker.

"Kanan, now!" he heard Hera yell, then felt her hand grasping his and yanking him aboard. He felt their own shuttle rise slowly as the other shuttle slammed into the walker then spun wildly through the fence and crashed in the field beyond. Flames leapt up from the crash site. Fire, one way or another, was on the menu this night.

"Kallus," Kanan whispered, understanding.

"Sabine!" Ezra shouted when they had gained enough altitude, "Hit that tank below us!"

"You don't even have to say it," she replied, aimed the shuttle's guns and fired.

A flash lit the night, like lightning on the ground, then flames of blue and white burst beneath them, followed by the sound wave, the boom and crack of metal as the pods burst like overripe fruit. The fire sprang up, blue and white, hot, hungry. A roaring inferno, unstoppable, irrepressible. It flashed and devoured everything in its path, setting the other tanks off in a domino effect.

Their shuttle rose, their faces burned with the heat.

"Sabine!" Kanan shouted, "fly for the crash site. See if there are survivors."

"You might want to hold on to something," Sabine warned, and steered them abruptly left and down, towards the smoking ruin of the shuttle.

Kanan scanned the night, his sightless eyes seeing everything, including the figure limping away on foot in the dark.

"There!" he called out, and Sabine lowered the shuttle just enough for Kanan and Ezra to reach down from the ramp and pull Kallus up.

"We have him! Get us out of here."

"Thanks!" Kallus said. Miraculously, he'd just sprained his ankle when he jumped out.

Kanan hadn't let go of his hand yet.

"No, it is I who owes you thanks," he said and brought his other hand down on top of Kallus' before letting go. "I think the mystery of your dreams of fire might be solved. Perhaps you are Force sensitive after all."

Kallus glanced back out of the shuttle towards the volcano of flames they'd left behind.

"So sensitive that it took six months of nightmares to get the message through?" Kallus scoffed, smiling wryly. "I would hardly call that sensitive."

Kanan leaned over and embraced Hera. There was something in the way he squeezed her to him that sent shivers down her spine.

"Kanan, what's wrong?"

He didn't answer but pulled her tighter, and she closed her eyes shut and squeezed him back.

"I haven't had that much fun since Gorse," he said lightly, but his grip didn't lessen and the smile didn't reach his eyes.

"Hold on tight," Sabine warned them, and the shuttle swayed and raced away from the maelstrom of flames and out of the city towards the mountains.

…

"Alexsandr."

Kallus stopped frozen in his tracks at the sound of his name on Bell's lips. His hair was wet from the shower, still dripping on his shoulders. She was halfway out of her cabin, barefoot and wearing her sleep clothes, that somehow made her look so much younger. Her freshly washed hair was curling down her back, unbraided.

"Thank you," she said. "For saving them. If anything had happened to any of them, I think it would have broken us."

He dipped his head silently.

"And thank you for not dying yourself," she added.

The light was dimmed in the corridor, but he could see her eyes, bright amber, watching him, and curiously devoid of any resentment.

"I thought you would not object if I died," he said tentatively.

"Well," she answered, one corner of her mouth sliding up. "Who would I have to be spiteful to, then?"

He huffed a breath, mirroring her smile. "I can try to not die for a while, if you absolutely need someone to be spiteful to," he said.

"So considerate of you," she laughed. "Thanks."

"Or I'll stick around and you can be nicer to me."

"I don't think you're in a position to make such demands, Kallus," she said, but she was smiling.

"It's back to Kallus, then?"

"I've already thanked you. Special occasion's over."

A cabin door slid open beside Kallus, and they both jumped. Ezra peeked his head out.

"You do know these doors are actually paper thin, right? And some of us are trying to sleep." Zeb's snores drifted out into the corridor. "Maybe you two should take this exciting conversation somewhere private," he grinned at their expressions. "Just saying."

…

Wrapped in Kanan's arms in her bunk, Hera chuckled quietly.

"You were right," she said. "She did get over it." She settled her head back on his chest. "Kanan, I almost lost you," she whispered. "Promise me you'll never to do that again."

"I really thought it was my time to go. The wolves, the force, it all pointed to it. Was it all a test of some kind? And then, Kallus." He shook his head. "I didn't expect that. I've been thinking about it. We need to get to the Jedi temple, if there is anything left of it. Find some answers." He brushed his hand over her back. "Hera, I can't promise you this won't happen again. If my death means your survival, I will always make the choice."

"I wish you wouldn't be such a Jedi about it?"

"It makes me less of a Jedi," Kanan said without any regret. "I would always choose you over the greater good. I have non-negotiable attachments that are fundamentally forbidden real Jedi."

"You are a real Jedi, Kanan."

"A different kind of Jedi, then," he conceded.

"Remember that conversation about what ifs?" Hera asked. "Would you train a new generation of Jedi, once this war is over?"

"I don't know. I started training Ezra, didn't I? I guess we're meant to pass on the knowledge." He placed his hand over Hera's belly. "But I would never take a child from their family, force them to sever all ties with them, renounce attachments. I'd be a hypocrite."

"It feels too much like the empire's stolen child soldiers?" Hera said. "If our child is force sensitive, you could train a new kind of Jedi. Ones allowed attachments, attachments that set them free, that would only make them stronger."

"Perhaps," Kanan said, and kissed the top of her head.

Hera sat up on her knees and faced him. She took in the sight of him propped up against the headrest. A stab of regret pierced her again over the loss of his sight. She wished he could see her as she saw him, that he could one day see the face of their child.

"Kanan," she said, "I want you to marry me."

He sucked in a breath. "Hera, is this because …"

She didn't let him finish. "This is because I love you, and I don't see my future without you in it, whether it's fighting the empire together, or rebuilding what was lost, or raising our children."

His mouth curved into a slow grin.

"Children?"

She smiled at the boyish pleasure on his face.

"Sure, if we survive the first one," she conceded with a smile.

"Well, we already have Ezra and Sabine," he chuckled. "How hard can it be?"

"You haven't given me an answer," Hera persisted. "To my proposal."

"I am honoured to accept your proposal, General Hera Syndulla," Kanan said solemnly. "I thought you'd never ask. Literally, never," he joked with a smile. He cupped her face between his palms and leaned up to kiss her. "I love you. Always."


	7. Chapter 7

The loth-wolves took them to the Jedi temple with their mysterious ability to travel through the planet.

Kallus could only imagine what would happen if the Empire got wind of their abilities. The tests that would follow, the experiments, the ruthless destruction. It was all displayed in their dissection of the Jedi temple. Piece by piece it was being taken apart so that the Emperor may gorge himself on its secrets.

Out of the corner of his eye Kallus watched Kanan and Ezra disappear behind the rocks, and let the storm troopers lead him and Sabine away. He was familiar with the empire lingo, and he doubted that they had changed all the codes just because he'd defected. So far so good. He was making a fuss in the right language, pretending to be a lieutenant, and had all their attention.

Behind him, Kanan and Ezra slipped through a portal in the rock encircled by loth-wolves.

"I see absolutely no reason for you to be here," an old crackly voice said, and the Emperor's adviser, Minister Veris Hydan, appeared at his elbow. His presence was unfortunate, Kallus thought. Lower ranks, he could work with, but Hydan was known for his attention to detail.

"Wait a moment," the old man squinted. "I think I know who you are." He gestured to the troopers closest.

"Make a run for it!" Kallus told Sabine. "I'll hold them back." He slammed his shoulder into the closest trooper's chest, toppling him over and taking his blaster. He rushed behind the nearest table, firing blindly behind him. He saw Sabine run across the excavation site that had once been the Jedi Temple. If he could buy her some time to get away, it would all be worth it.

"I want them alive!" he heard Hydan shout. He kept firing his blaster, trying to give Sabine cover, but he was quickly overrun, and took a blaster shot himself. The pain seared along his nerve endings, and the weapon fell out of his cramping fingers. The stormtroopers were on him in seconds.

"Send this one off to Grand Admiral Thrawn," Hydan instructed. "And bring the other one to me."

Kallus gritted his teeth. He knew what awaited him at Thrawn's hands, and he really didn't look forward to it. Two troopers dragged him over to the small shuttle parked on the perimeter of the site. Kallus looked around wildly for a way out, but he was out of time, and out of ideas. The last thing he saw on the ground, as the shuttle ramp closed behind him, was Sabine being captured and walked over to Hydan.

...

"What is this place?" Ezra wondered out loud.

"I … don't know," Kanan said at his elbow sensing the curved pathways and portals dotting the dark landscape. "Stay close," he warned.

They walked the path, their feet making soundless ripples at each step. Disembodied voices spoke, most of them unknown to Ezra. Kanan startled at the sounds.

"Who are they?" Ezra asked.

"Jedi of old," he replied. "Some of them I used to know. I heard," he shook his head. "I thought I heard …" he followed the sound to a doorway and Ezra looked thorough as the image cleared.

Two figures meditating on a rocky outcrop, one tall, one short, dressed in the hooded garb of the Jedi. Master and Padawan. A row of clone troopers behind them receiving a transmission, then turning their weapons towards the Jedi. The taller figure reaching for the short one's hand, then both jumping up to block the attack behind them.

The Jedi master yelling to the padawan "Run!" as she turned and faced the troopers.

"Master Billaba," Kanan whispered. He took a step forward as if to walk in and help, then stopped himself.

Ezra watched mesmerised.

"Is that?" he hesitated.

"Me," Kanan replied, as the boy escaped and his master was shot down. "And my Master." The image receded and the doorway became see-through once more.

"Is that," Ezra faltered, "is that how your Master died?"

Kanan swallowed hard. He opened his mouth to speak, but the words wouldn't come out. His sightless eyes burned, and he nodded, his jaw clenched tight.

"Oh, Kanan, what is this place?"

Kanan forced his feet to move. He pushed away the memories, the sounds and smells that had rushed back to him in the doorway. He pushed them down deep, to look at and mourn again later. Ezra needed him now to be clear headed, not lost in the past.

They walked past several doorways. Images formed and dissolved in them as they passed. Kanan slowed down in front of one doorway in passing. In it he sensed a woman carrying an injured man, through what looked like a ship's corridor, troopers converging on them. There was something familiar about them, Kanan thought. He leaned forward and accidentally touched his hand to the door frame. A small chime sounded and the frame flashed once.

"Kanan, over here!" Ezra ran off down the path.

"Ezra, wait!" shouted Kanan behind him, and rushed to keep up.

Above the doorway sat a small convor.

"I've seen it before," Ezra said. "Whenever Ahsoka was around."

"I remember," Kanan said as he caught up with him. The condor hooted as if in greeting.

"We were led here but we don't know why," Ezra said to the little condor. "Can you help us?" The condor warbled and pointed below at the gateway with its beak. The image appeared behind it, of the Sith Temple, a younger Ezra sliding under the lowering wall, calling out to Ahsoka who was left behind with Vader. The two duelled as the device that had been powered by the Sith holocron build up energy.

The condor chittered urgently above the door, and suddenly Ezra reached in and grasped Ahsoka's shoulder, and pulled her out as the floor collapsed under Vader and the Sith device exploded. The doorway turned opaque and translucent once again. The image was gone, but Ahsoka lay on the ground beside him, real and alive.

They picked themselves up off the floor, Kanan helping Ahsoka stand.

"Kanan? Ezra?" she whispered incredulously. "What is this place?"

"It's like a world between worlds," Kanan said.

"I was fighting Vader," she remembered suddenly.

"And I pulled you out," Ezra finished her sentence.

She looked closer at him. "You're older, Ezra."

They stood close together, the voices of past Jedi echoing around them, and Ezra explained how much time had passed and what had happened since she'd fallen fighting Vader.

"We need to leave," Kanan said suddenly.

Something had changed. A presence had entered, focused on them.

"I can't come with you," Ahsoka said.

"But I can," a new voice said. A portal nearby flashed green and the image of the Sith Lord Darth Sidious crystalized in it.

"Ezra Bridger, Ahsoka Tano and Kanan Jarrus," Darth Sidious cackled. "Mine at last!"

"Ahsoka, you must come," Ezra yelled.

"I need to return through my own time," she clarified. "And you must close the portal. The Sith cannot be allowed to enter this place."

"Run!" Kanan shouted.

They dashed down the path, green flames chasing them. Ahsoka veered off and jumped into her own portal, while Kanan and Ezra tried to outrun the encroaching fire. It was charged with raw malice, like a living evil thing, nipping at their backs.

They were so close. The portal just within reach. Ezra stumbled and fell, and Kanan turned back to help him to his feet.

"Run," Kanan shouted to him again, and Ezra took off, sure his master was following behind him. But when he reached the portal, he looked back and saw Kanan still far off, holding back the flames with his own power, both hands held out before him forming an invisible wall against which the green fire broke.

"Kanan!" Ezra cried out.

"Go!" Kanan shouted again. "Close the portal! Ezra, you have to. He can't be allowed control of this place."

The green flames curved around Kanan's shield, reaching for him, almost touching him with their malicious tentacles. Ezra narrowed his eyes, and stubbornly stepped back towards Kanan.

"I won't leave you," he called out.

"We each have our own part to play," Kanan said, and then pivoted his body sideways, keeping one hand to stop the flames and one hand aimed at Ezra. The young padawan felt the Force, guided by his master's will, push him off his feet. He fell backwards through the portal.

"No! Kanan!" he shouted to the dark Lothal sky. He rose to his feet and staggered towards the portal encircled by the wolves, but blaster fire stopped him. Hera, Zeb and Sabine rushed towards him, at the same time trying to hold off the stormtroopers converging on their location.

"Where's Kanan?" Hera demanded.

"He's still in there," Ezra told her, taking cover and firing his own blaster.

"You must close the portal, Ezra," Kanan's voice spoke in his head. "So much depends on it."

Ezra squeezed his eyes shut. He wished he had more time to think. But there was no time. He had to act now, or that great evil he'd glimpsed inside would gain access to everything and everyone. The Sith would gain control over past and present and would use it to bring the galaxy to its knees and spread his nightmare among the stars.

"Sabine," he called, "we have to close it." His vice broke speaking the words.

"What?" Hera exclaimed. "No. Kanan's still in there!"

"We have to. He is holding off the Sith …" his words failed him. He followed Sabine's instructions and let the Force course though him, taking with it all his anguish.

"Find the moment you are needed most and do what you must do," Kanan's voice said in his mind. Ezra watched the pictures on the rock face shift as the portal shut itself down, and he fell backwards into unconsciousness.

He woke up sometime later to an eerie quiet. The others sat around him, their faces white. It took him some time to get his bearings. They were inside Mining Guild excavation driller.

"Is he gone?" Hera asked him, her voice breaking.

"I don't know," Ezra replied. "We didn't have time to figure out entirely how that place worked." He shook his head and looked away from the desperate hope in Hera's eyes. "Maybe he'll find his way back to us."

Hera hugged herself, her body bending over. Sabine put a hand on shoulder.

"Where's Kallus?" Ezra asked suddenly.

"Taken," Zeb replied, his massive shoulders slumped. "To Thrawn."


	8. Chapter 8

"My apologies for not being there in person," Thrawn drawled, his voice soft, his tone almost bored. "I am on my way though, and am eager to continue this face to face."

Kallus strained against his restraints. He'd been in the dome two days. They had started on him the day before. Pryce had been much too eager to begin interrogating him and extracting information to impress Thrawn with. Then Thrawn had personally taken over via hologram. They wanted to rip him open and get all that was in his head. And make him pay for betraying their Empire. He'd lost track of how many hours. His nerve endings were on fire, even in the breaks between electrocutions, the pain lingered, stronger and slower to fade.

"Be safe," Bell had whispered to him as he'd left for the Jedi Temple. Night had fallen. He'd gone into the tent for something forgotten, and she was standing outside when he came out.

He'd nodded, silently. There was no point making empty promises.

She reached out her hand, then hesitated. He met her half way. Their fingers touched and held. She looked at their joined hands as if they had somehow surprised her, then looked up straight into his eyes. Her fingers were cold, so he covered them in both of his hands.

Someone had called his name, and she'd let go. She'd turned and took a step as if to walk around him to the tent, but instead of walking past him, she stopped again when they were side by side, facing opposite ways, her shoulder touching his. He didn't move away and she leaned into him. Just the slightest pressure. He felt like he'd been running for miles. She half turned her head toward him, and he turned towards her. He felt her hair brush his shoulder, smelled her scent, felt her warmth.

Whoever it was, called him again. Sabine. It was time to go. Bell stepped away and he walked over to the others where the loth-wolves were waiting. He felt the cold of the night seep where her shoulder had branded his.

"Where is the new rebel base? What are you planning on Lothal?" Kallus heard Thrawn say through the fog in his head. "I will have it out of you."

Had it been a dream, Kallus wondered. Did his mind make it up under the torture to keep him sane, or had Bell really touched him like he meant something to her?

"You are not paying attention, Kallus," Thrawn drawled, his predatory eyes narrowing. The hologram refreshed itself like a wave moving through from the tip of Thrawn's head down to his shoes. "You were once an Imperial Agent, trained in resisting the subtle arts of persuasion. But even you can be broken. Everyone can. With the correct amount of pressure."

Hologram Thrawn nodded to the trooper at the controls, and the man pushed the button again. Agony tore through Kallus' body. His spine arched, knocking his chest against the restraints. The bruising there was a dull pain compared to the feeling of his body being turned into a torch from the inside out. He grunted through his clenched teeth.

"It is fascinating how long the human body resists under torture," Thrawn continued turning away slightly, as if worthier contemplations distracted him from the messy task at hand. "I'm glad it does, you see. I have all the time in the world, and we will do this until you talk, or until you die, whichever comes first."

Kallus felt his muscles straining under the pressure, the pain spiking through his skull. There were two good things about this, he thought to himself as he half listened to Thrawn expound on his knowledge of human biology. He had been trained to withstand interrogation. He also, genuinely, had no idea what the rebels were planning. But he did know the location of the rebel base, and there were many details in his head that in Thrawn's hands would harm the Rebellion. He prayed he would hold. He had to hold, until either Thrawn tired, or was called elsewhere, or until his own death released him. He would not betray the Rebellion. He would not betray his friends.

"There is something I should tell you," Kallus rasped.

Thrawn paused his monologue. "Oh?" he asked, his curiosity peaked.

"You really talk too much," Kallus said, and part of him wanted to laugh hysterically. Thrawn's eyes narrowed.

"You waste my time. Let's try again," Thrawn said, his voice smooth as silk. "Where is the rebel base?"

"Be safe," Bell said in his mind. He looked away from Thrawn, picturing her beside him, feeling her fingers in his. That surprised look in her eyes. What he would give to feel her warmth against him one last time.

Thrawn glanced at the trooper on the controls.

"A little higher," he instructed, and Kallus felt the pain tear his insides. His eyes rolled back in his head, and his body spasmed. He heard a long, ragged scream, and felt a measure of surprise as it ripped up through his own throat.

…

Five days. Five days since Kallus had been taken. Bell went through her tasks like a droid. It was no mystery what the Imperials would be doing to him. Five days. While they could do nothing. Nothing, until the whole plan was in place. Doing something isolated would be pointless. Capital City was in full lock down after the destruction of the fuel depot.

They had to wait. They had to follow Ezra's crazy plan. They had to build it piece by piece. It was their only hope.

She wanted to scream, but she was very quiet instead, and very efficient.

She felt a hand on her shoulder. Zeb looked exhausted.

"Give me a hand with the transistors on the Phantom," he growled.

"We replaced them all yesterday, remember?" Bell said.

"Let's check them again. There is nothing else to do, and if I have nothing to do, I am going to lose it."

"Got it," Bell said and followed him to the shuttle.

"I wish Kanan was here," Zeb muttered as they pulled out the computer core for her and started passing each component to her to check. "I keep thinking he's going to return to us any moment. I'll look up and suddenly there he'll be." He looked around the camp and sighed. "It's not right. It's like we're … crippled without him. I don't like it." He growled in frustration. "And Kallus. I hate that we've had to leave him to them for so long." Zeb gripped the wrench in his hand like he wanted to bend it with his mind. He suddenly turned to her.

"You don't still hate him, do you?" he asked fiercely. "You're not actually glad they've got him, are you?"

She shook her head, unable to look at him.

"He's had the courage to see it all for what it was, leave behind everything," Zeb growled, "to risk his life and try to make things right. He didn't run away from it, and now he's paying for it … Karabast!" Zeb punched the console and turned to look at her. "And your opinion mattered to him. More than he'll admit. He might have been Imperial, but he's as honourable as humans come."

Bell gripped her hands together to stop them from shaking.

"Here, give me that," she said taking a component from him, "you're bending the casing."

Zeb released it and slammed his fist into the side of the Phantom's hull. Bell put her hand over his sore knuckles.

"You don't have to tell me who he is, Zeb," she said. "I know. If I could get him back by wishing it, I think between me and you, he'd have been here in a blink."

Her words seemed to finally filter through his anger.

"It's like that, then, is it?" he asked her, his face brightening a little.

"It's like that, yes," she muttered reluctantly, not meeting his eyes.

Zeb huffed out a breath.

"He could have been taken off-world by now," he grumbled, his shoulders slumped.

"No, Zeb," Bell said. "He's in the dome. He has to be. Pryce will not release him to anyone other than Thrawn. She won't risk sending him off and losing him. She's made too many mistakes, and he's her ticket to redemption."

"You know Pryce?"

Bell nodded. "Yeah," she admitted. "She used to work with my father for an advocacy group called Higher Skies on Coruscant. Before she got delusions of grandeur and sold him and others out to Tarkin." She went quiet. "She's the reason I ended up here on Lothal, on the extended family's farm. I was sixteen years old and dying to study in the ISE on Coruscant. But I had no where else to go when my father was arrested, and a farm can always use more warm bodies. My aunt doesn't believe in sticking your neck out unnecessarily."

"She wasn't a fan of you joining the Rebellion?"

"No, but she was even less a fan of Agent Kallus burning her farm." Her mouth curved up in a guilty grin, and Zeb huffed out a laugh.

"And your father?" Zeb asked. "He obviously did believe in sticking his neck out."

"Haven't heard from him in over eighteen years," she said. "What are the chances?" she asked cynically.

"Slim," Zeb admitted.

"I'm grateful to my aunt. Don't get me wrong." She looked away, her eyes troubled. "I owe her a lot."

Ezra and Sabine came into camp.

"I need to speak to Hera," Ezra said. "We need to act now if this plan is to work. Thrawn is on his way back to Lothal."

Zeb clapped his hands together with a shout. "Finally, some action," he barked. "I was starting to lose my mind."


	9. Chapter 9

Rukh had taken down the planetary shield, and then Thrawn had bombarded the capital. It seemed like everything that could have gone wrong, had. They had to restore the shield or all would be lost. Ezra's plan to free Lothal would end with such an Imperial backlash that would put out all sparks of rebellion.

"Gregor, Hondo and Ketsu," Sabine said, "you take the North Tower. Zeb, Rex, Bell, you take the South."

They rushed to restore the shield. Troopers pursued them at every turn.

"I'll try to clear a path for you," Sabine said on the com, and the blast doors ahead began to close. Bell was too far behind. She sprinted, her leg muscles burning, visualizing one of those Jedi tricks where she would slide dramatically through the closing aperture.

"Bell", Zeb shouted, but it was too late, the blast doors closed in front of her, with Rex and Zeb on the other side. She banged her fist against it.

"I'm stuck," she told Sabine, taking cover and firing at the incoming troopers.

"A door on the left," Sabine said urgently. "Take it."

Bell ran. Another blast separator closed behind her with a clank, and she leaned on the wall to catch her breath. She was too far left for to make it to the tower. She couldn't catch up to them now.

"Sabine, is Chopper back on his feet?"

A thump later Sabine confirmed.

"Kallus! Is he still in the dome?"

The question hung in the air, suspended like a soap bubble. They had planned to look for him as soon as they'd had taken the dome, but Rukh's sabotage had cost them time and focus. Protecting the city had to come first.

"Fifth level, cell block 30, interrogation room."

Tears sprang up behind Bell's eyes. She wiped her face with right upper arm and sprinted towards the lifts. She hid, she skulked, and she ran, her heart pounding in her ears.

"You there!" the trooper on level 5 shouted, leveling his blaster at her. Bell fired without a second thought and watched the anonymous man drop to the floor without remorse.

"Sabine," she called on her com, "Sabine, I'm here. Open the door."

The door slid open, and Bell cautiously crept inside.

Kallus was there, strapped upright into that interrogation device, unconscious. Bell dropped her blaster and rushed to release him. Once free, he fell forward on her. She dropped under his dead weight to the floor.

"Kallus," she called to him, trying to extract herself from under him without letting his head smash on the floor. "Kallus!" she tried again. "Karabast! Did you have to be so heavy? Alexsandr! Wake up! We need to get out of here." She panicked and checked his pulse. It was weak but steady. His face was ashen, his eyes underlined with grey. His wrists sported dark purple bruises. She wanted to cry, to hit something, but she couldn't lose focus now or they would both die.

She slid him to the floor, clipped the blaster to her belt and then pulled his upper body on her back, until she had his head and arms hanging forward over her shoulders. She strained to her feet, blood pounding in her head with the effort.

The corridor was empty.

"Sabine," she grunted into the com. "I need a way out."

"You found him?"

"I found him. Now give me a clear path to come back to you."

"You'll have to hurry, Bell," Sabine said, and there was something in her voice that told Bell time was running out.

"I'll try."

She was almost at the lift, when the doors opened and half a dozen troopers poured out.

"Stop right there!" one of then yelled and levelled his blaster. She turned to head down the other way, but another group of troopers had emerged at the far end of the corridor, and were running towards them.

Bell slammed her body sideways behind the doorframe of the cell block hallway. The frame gave them some cover. Kallus slid from her back and slumped against the wall. She unhooked her blaster and fired. Kallus moaned behind her.

"Alexsandr!" she said, touching his face.

"What's our status?" he asked, his voice hoarse.

"Our status is toast, that's what it is," she said, firing occasionally to keep the troopers at a distance.

"Surrender your blaster and you will be taken into custody for Grand Admiral Thrawn alive," the trooper by the lift called out.

"I'd rather die …" Kallus whispered to her.

"Bell?" Sabine's voice. "We restored the planetary shield. You need to get here now!"

Bell stuck her arm out and fired blindly in both directions, then huddled back beside Kallus.

"Give me your blaster," he said. I'll give you enough cover to escape."

She turned on him, her eyes blazing.

"If you say that again, Alexsandr Kallus, I will personally blast you into next week," she breathed angrily. She touched his face, her anger suddenly gone. "I'm so sorry for what they've done to you," she whispered. "I'm so sorry we didn't get you sooner."

He forced his muscles to obey through the pain and brought his right hand to her cheek, mirroring her.

"Shh. You came for me. You're here now."

Bell blinked back tears.

"Some rescue this is," she whispered. She could hear the stormtroopers' boots click against the floor as they cautiously advanced towards them. "Now's the time for something strategically sound, Agent Kallus," she said.

He smiled, a small smile mired in despair, and pulled her head down to press his lips against hers.

"How's this?" he asked against her lips. She startled, but didn't pull away. Then she sank to her knees against him and wrapped her arms around his back.

"Not helpful," she managed.

"I'm all out of strategy," he said, holding her close. "It was always Kanan's domain."

A strange buzzing began to their left. They turned their heads towards it expecting the worst. A purple circle formed in the air, like a swirl, and an image appeared, then someone came through it. Someone holding a light saber, and deflecting blaster shots front and back.

"Fancy entrance," Kallus commented.

"I aim to impress, "Kanan replied and he made short work of knocking out the troopers.

He helped Kallus to his feet between him and Bell, and they hobbled to the lift and upwards toward the command centre.

"Sabine," Bell activated her com again. "We're on our way."

"How did you do that?" Kallus asked Kanan.

"It was the only door still open," Kanan replied mysteriously.

They made it to the command centre just as Ezra said his goodbye and the Purgil jumped to hyperspace.

Hera looked over her shoulder and did a double take. She froze and then rushed into Kanan's arms. The others returned from the tower, and Mart signaled for pickup. They triggered the launch codes and left the Dome, the Ghost waiting for them on the dock above.

Inside the Ghost's cockpit, they watched Ezra's recorded message in silence. Hera still held on tightly to Kanan's hand as if he would also disappear into thin air at any moment. Sabine detonated the charges and they watched the Empire's last flight from Lothal collapse into the sea.

"The people are with you, General Syndulla," Kallus observed, as the crowds cheered in the streets of Lothal City below them.

"Let's get you looked at," Zeb said to Kallus, and between him and Kanan, they carried him back out to the lounge.

"I didn't tell them anything," Kallus said to them.

"No, you don't look like a man who's been cooperating," Zeb commented. "Thrawn was not able to charm you with his smooth talk?"

"He talked my head off, day and night. Couldn't sleep a wink."

Zeb chuckled while they lowered him to the bench.

"Look what all that sleep deprivation did to you," Zeb said flippantly as they removed his shirt and revealed the bruising on his chest and back. He hissed a breath. "You'll need a bacta tank."

Bell came out of the cockpit, and almost gasped at the sight.

"We've contacted a med centre," she said. "We're flying there now." She walked over to him and was about to reach for his hand.

"Bell, there's a transmission for you," Hera said on the com. "Local, from Lothal's northern hemisphere."

Bell let her hand fall to her side and took a step back. Kallus met her eyes. She was looking at him, but her thoughts were far away. She turned her head and squeezed her lips together.

"I'll take it in my cabin," she said and walked out.


	10. Chapter 10

In the months that followed, they scrambled to get Lothal ready to withstand any Imperial retribution. Yet none had come.

Kallus had stayed with Azadi and Sabine in the Capital City working on reinforcements and defences. Just after he'd recovered, Zeb took him on a trip beyond an imploded star cluster, to the planet Lira San, where he'd found the Lasat people thriving away from under the eye of the Empire. They'd welcomed him, under Zeb's testimony, as one of their own. They'd offered them a home among them, but even Zeb could not accept. There was so much more still to do before the Empire's grip on the galaxy was removed.

An incredible weight had lifted of Kallus' shoulders.

"I don't know how to thank you," Kallus said to Zeb, as they were flying back from Lira San. He sat in the co-pilot seat of the shuttle while Zeb handled the controls. "For all you've done for me."

"Nah," Zeb rumbled. "You've done most of it for yourself."

Kallus looked sideways at him.

"Not many men can change their path like you did," Zeb explained. "I might have been the catalyst, but you did all the heavy lifting." He was quiet a while. "Are we going to talk about Bell now?"

Kallus inhaled sharply and locked his jaw.

"There's nothing to talk about," he said.

"She'll be back," Zeb said.

He had been still in the bacta tank when she'd left to help relocate her family back from the northern hemisphere of Lothal. She hadn't said goodbye. She hadn't said she would be back. She hadn't contacted him at all. He was an ex-ISB agent. He could find her in a blink. Track her down, show up on her doorstep and … And what, he asked himself. It was her choice to leave. There was nothing he could do about it.

"Hm," Zeb huffed. "Working through her guilt at actually liking you," he said putting his hand on Kallus' shoulder.

"Or simpler, of not liking me," Kallus said. His shoulders slumped.

Back on Lothal, Kallus threw himself into his work of preparing Lothal for the return of the Empire. Zeb offered him a seat on several off-world missions, but Kallus couldn't bring himself to leave the planet. Not yet.

Hera, flanked by Kanan and Zeb, was their liaison with Rebel command, and still running occasional missions off world, despite being now visibly pregnant.

The three were on their way back to Lothal now, and Kallus had gone out to the landing bay to meet them. He watched the Ghost's precise landing with open appreciation. The ship he had never caught. General Syndulla was in a class all her own.

Kallus walked over as they lowered the ramp and waited for them at the bottom.

"Welcome back!" he said, clasping arms with Zeb.

"How's it going here?" his friend asked.

"We're armed to the teeth, and ready. More reinforcements come daily."

"Good man," Zeb said and patted him on the back.

"How are they?" Kallus nodded up towards the top of the ramp, meaning Kanan and Hera.

Zeb's face wrinkled in a grimace. "Eh," he said tilting his head. "Quiet," Zeb admitted. "Too quiet for my liking. Is Bell back?"

"No."

"No? That's all?" Zeb prodded, unsatisfied.

"That's all," he said, but his voice sounded flat, even to his own ears.

"No transmissions? Nothing?"

Kallus shook his head and looked away.

Zeb huffed again, but before he could say any more, Hera and Kanan came down the ramp followed by Chopper.

They were quiet, Kallus had to agree. Not in that focused way they had been before the liberation of Lothal. Back then they were the consummate team, complementing each other in that easy way of theirs. Now there was something heavy between them, and it was not Hera's pregnancy. He'd seen how happy they both were about it.

This quiet was something else. And Ezra. Or rather, the lack of Ezra.

"We got wind of a new weapon," Kanan finally spoke, when Sabine had joined them. "The Empire calls it a Death Star."

Everyone but Hera stared at him.

"Remember our suspicions of a weapon built on Geonosis? Well, we now have confirmation that the Empire took it over and is fully invested in its activation. When completed, it will have the power to destroy an entire planet."

Kallus felt a cold shiver slide all the way up his spine. The horror and twisted audacity of it. The Empire's appetite had no boundaries. He felt nausea rise up in his throat.

"What are we going to do about it?" he asked, his hand curling into a fist.

"The Rebel Alliance is doing something," Kanan said looking towards Hera, "and they would welcome your help." Kallus suddenly wondered why Kanan was the one filling them in, while Hera was so quiet.

"I must do something else," Kanan finally said.

There it was, Kallus realized. This was the full weight between them.

"Ezra," Zeb filled in, understanding.

Kanan nodded. Hera finally turned her face towards him and her eyes were sad and hopeful at the same time.

"For a second there I felt tempted to offer to accompany Kanan?" Kallus confessed to Zeb afterwards when they were alone. "I wanted to run away."

"Do you mean from the Empire, or Bell?"

"Both," he admitted, sitting down, elbows on his knees, and resting his head in his hands. "I often wish I could leave Agent Kallus, ISB-021 behind. Get through at least one day when the people I meet don't cringe when they look at me." He sighed. "At least in the outer reaches, I haven't imprisoned or killed anyone. I could be simply Alexsandr Kallus."

He looked up at Zeb.

"But I can't do that. I have to see this through. This fight won't be over for me until the Empire is no more, or until I am dead. I can't run away from it. I can't run away from the anger of the people I've hurt."

"And Bell?" Zeb asked.

"She couldn't even look me in the eye to say goodbye," Kallus bit out.

"You should contact her."

Kallus looked up, his eyes flashing.

"Why should I? She's made it clear she wants nothing to do with me."

"Do it for yourself, then," Zeb said and patted him on the back.

…

The connection clicked and a middle-aged woman's holoprojection appeared in midair. Wrinkles marked her face and her hair was streaked with white, combed back from her face in a severe bun at the nape of her neck. Familiar amber eyes looked back at him.

"Yes?" the woman asked.

"I wish to speak to Bell."

"Bell is not available," the woman replied curtly. Her eyes narrowed. "I know who you are," she said, her voice clipped. "How dare you call here?"

"I must speak with Bell," he said firmly. He wasn't being friendly, or making an effort to reconcile. He hadn't anticipated encountering this degree of hostility. "Please," he tried. "Please, at least tell her I called."

"Why would I?" she hissed. "She's finally put the war behind her. She's back to where she belongs."

He couldn't help himself.

"The war is far from over," he bit out. "And Bell wants to make a difference, not hide away on a farm."

The woman's eyes widened and she scowled.

"How dare you? Do not try to contact her again," the woman said.

"I won't," Kallus conceded. "Just please, give her my message." He paused, resentful at sounding so desperate. "She means something to me. I want to at least say goodbye."

"Then goodbye!" the woman said and severed the connection.

Kallus stared unseeing at the wall of the communications room. He exhaled a shaky breath and rubbed his hand over his eyes. That had gone even worse than he'd expected. He felt raw, like he'd opened something he'd guarded and treasured, and exposed it to the ridicule of strangers. And he couldn't even blame her family for hating him.


	11. Chapter 11

He threw himself into his work instead. The days passed. Ahsoka and Rex arrived. Kanan and Sabine were getting ready to leave.

Night had fallen and he was returning to his small room in Lothal's Capital from another long day. There was a figure standing by the doors, leaning casually against the wall. His senses prickled and he narrowed his eyes in scrutiny.

Bell pushed away from the wall, and Kallus felt his world turn upside down once more. He forced himself not to move.

"I'm sorry I left without saying goodbye," she said, as if she'd been practising it over and over.

He watched her, using every bit of his training to keep his face blank.

"They called me away when you were still recovering." She chewed on her lower lip. "I was hoping to … to have their blessing to leave, and to …" she waved her hand towards him. "But they never relented." She looked forlorn, like she'd had to cleave part of herself away.

He wanted very much to cross the space to her, but held himself still.

"Please say something," she said.

"Like what?"

"Like you're happy to see me."

"Am I?"

She cringed a little.

"I was hoping you'd be."

"I'm not happy to see you," he said, taking a step towards her and watching her eyes widen with shock. "I'm too relieved for happy. I don't remember what happy feels like."

He watched her process his words, and then saw the relief that flooded her eyes. She took the three steps that separated them and he wrapped her into his arms.

"Don't leave like that again," he ordered into her hair. "Please," he added softly.

"I won't," she conceded, her arms tightening around him.

"You got my message?" he asked her.

She shook her head. "She didn't tell me. But I figured it out. Eventually."

His heart squeezed. He wanted to take away the hurt in her voice. This was another direct and personal repercussion of his own actions. Too close to home to be ignored or avoided.

"I am sorry," he said, and she must have caught something in his voice, because she pulled out of his arms to look him in the eye. Her hands clasped his upper arms.

"Despite all obvious associations, I want you to know that it is not your fault," she said. "Some people can change." She touched his face gently. "And others cannot."

"Your family hates me," he said. She looked up at him, her eyes sad.

"For now," she nodded, refusing to sugar-coat it, "but they don't know you, and they don't have to live with you."

He pulled back and looked at her.

"And you have to?" he said with some amusement.

"Where else would I go? You burned down my farm, remember?"

"Great," he said with mock sarcasm, "My self esteem is shattered." He pulled her back and rested his chin on the top of her head. "I thought we had decided you were going to be nicer to me." She chuckled into his chest.

"I don't remember any such agreement," she said. She tilted her head back and kissed him. "How's this?"

"Better," he agreed sometime later.

…

Hera had been sitting on the bunk while Kanan finished packing his things. They'd said nothing to each other all morning. Finally, he knelt in front of her, rested his head on her lap. She stroked his hair, and he wrapped his arms around her waist, encircling their unborn child between them.

"Will you say the words?" she asked finally.

"Do you want me to?"

"Yes. I need to hear them."

Kanan sighed.

"I will find Ezra. I will bring him home. I will come home to you. We will raise our son together." He had no idea if they were lies or not, but neither of them cared.

"Thank you," she said. "I'll hold on to them."

He raised his head and placed his lips on her belly, then jerked.

"He punched me," he said, full of wonder. Hera laughed and then sobbed.

She'd dried her tears by the time they walked out of the Ghost. Ahsoka's ship was refueling. Beside the lowered ramp Ahsoka, Kallus, Bell, Sabine and Rex were waiting.

Three of them would be leaving. Two, because Ezra had asked them. "Come find me," had been his last words to Ahsoka. "I'm counting on you," he'd said to Sabine. And Kanan, because she knew Ezra was as much a son to him as the child growing in her belly.

"Find him. Bring him home," Hera said, her voice breaking. She hugged Sabine first and Kanan last.

"Win the war, General," Kanan said, and they shared a last smile. "May the Force be with you, Hera."

She watched them as the ramp started closing, Kallus, Bell and Rex silent at her side.

"Come General," Kallus said as the ship drifted up behind the clouds, "we have a war to win."

He watched her reign in all the emotion behind her eyes. Her eyes narrowed and her mouth tightened into a firm line. She turned to him and nodded.

"Are you still against off-world missions, Alexsandr?" she asked him.

Kallus glanced at Bell. She nodded back.

"We'll go where we're needed, General," Kallus replied, choosing his words carefully.

Hera looked from one to the other and smiled a little bit wider. "Good," she said.


	12. Epilogue

Hera leaned on the rope railing and surveyed the village. The fires were burning, the Ewoks were dancing. The Rebels were still carousing, but some had found places to sleep, under the stars or in the little huts perched high in the trees.

She heard the steps behind her, turned, and saw Bell walking towards her. A lieutenant walked past them in the opposite direction.

"General Syndulla, Captain Kallus," the lieutenant greeted them. They nodded and waited until the man's footsteps faded away.

"We found it," Bell said holing out a small spaceship model the size of her hand.

"Oh, Bell, thank you!" Hera exclaimed, taking it from her. "He'll be so happy. Do I dare ask where it was?"

Bell chuckled.

"Alexsandr found it in the lower gun turret."

Hera groaned in frustration.

"How many times have I told him not to play in there?" she rolled her eyes up to the starlit sky. "It's like he has a special hearing filter, just for me."

"Like any healthy 4-year-old," Bell told her with a smile. She turned when she heard Alexsandr coming up behind her followed by Zeb.

"Intelligence Commander Kallus," Bell said with a mock salute.

"Captain Kallus," he greeted her back with a smirk.

Hera laughed and shook her head.

"We've sorted out the rations dispute," Zeb told her. "No troopers will be eaten by the locals tonight."

"Should we take him with us to the Ghost for the night?" Bell asked nodding toward the bench where Jacen had fallen asleep.

"Please," she nodded. "I won't be long."

She watched Alexsandr scoop up Jacen in his arms and then watched the three of them walk away. Chopper beeped from beside her. She smiled at him. Chopper had turned into her personal shadow since Kanan had left.

Hera turned back to the trees and the night.

The Emperor had not managed to turn Endor into an industrial centre, but he'd certainly begun the transformation. Now, these forests were safe and she could see the vast expanse of stars through the boughs.

They had done it. Brought down the Empire. It was finally over and the galaxy could start picking up the pieces. She remembered a long-ago conversation in the Ghost's Common room. Sabine asking them what they would do once it was all over. Sabine. Hera sighed. She remembered Kanan's hand on her shoulder, his warm, solid body at her back.

She shivered. It had been over four years since they had left. She'd had transmissions for a while until they passed into uncharted space, and after that just silence. Silence and day after day of hoping, and wondering, and waiting. Days that fit together into weeks, and months and then against all her hopes, years. She'd had Jacen to keep her busy, and her command in the Alliance. Zeb and Chopper turned guards and nursemaids. And she'd thrown herself into leading the Rebel Alliance body and soul, without Kanan to temper her, or fill the void of his absence.

Were four years enough to kill her hope? She often wondered. She looked again to the stars wondering if Kanan was still out there.

A Corellian ship crossed above, an older model, not in good shape by the sound of its engines. Hera frowned. She had given out specific regulations about ships flying this close to habitations, especially in the middle of the night. The ship turned its engines downwards and lowered its landing gear in a clearing ahead. She couldn't sleep, so she'd have a word with that pilot.

"Chop, come along," she told her droid. He muttered half-heartedly, but did as was told. Hera swung over he railing and used a rope to slide them down to the forest floor. The night was deeper here, the sounds of the celebrations muted.

The Corellian ship's engines were smoking as she came into view in the clearing. She heard clanging from inside and the ramp opened partway then locked.

"I am not getting back into this metal coffin" she heard a woman's muffled voice from inside. "It's a miracle we actually landed. We better find a proper ride, or I am not getting off this planet."

"Well, if the information we got is correct, we should have the best ride off this rock," a man's voice answered. There was more clanging. Hera huffed, planting herself just beyond where the ramp would touch down once opened, hands on hips.

The ramp opened, and two figures stood at the top, the light behind them.

"Well, our information was definitely correct," said the second voice, and it was not muffled any longer. Hera gasped, and her world turned on its head.

"Hi Hera," Ezra said to her from the top of the ramp. It was an older Ezra, no longer a boy, but a man, taller and thicker, and …

"You grew a beard," she said weakly, before larger Ezra rushed down the ramp and pulled her into a big bear of a hug.

She touched his face, his hair, the puckered scar that ran from the corner of his left eye to almost the middle of his chin. She laughed and hugged him back.

"You're home. You came home."

"I hear we missed this war," he said, that deeper, gravely voice making Hera laugh again. They pulled apart, both blinking back tears.

"You can't hog all the wars, Ezra," Sabine said coming down the ramp. "Didn't you have enough already?"

"Sabine," Hera said breathlessly.

Sabine ran down the ramp and straight into her waiting arms. She hugged her wordlessly.

Hera felt Kanan before she saw him, standing in the shadows inside the ship. She looked up and practically sobbed out loud. She covered her mouth and nose with her hands, peeking at him over her fingertips. His hair was long again, even longer than she remembered. She walked up to him and he started toward her. They reached each other half way and their hands met and held without a word.

After a long time, Ezra cleared his throat. Sabine elbowed him in the ribs.

Kanan pulled Hera gently into his arms.

"You won the war, General," Kanan said, his voice breaking.

"You found Ezra," she said into his shirt. "You came back to me."

"Where…," Kanan started and faltered. "Is, is he here with you?"

Hera pulled back and laughed. She wiped at the tears on her cheeks and nodded. She took his hand in both of hers and pulled him along with her. Sabine and Ezra followed behind.

"Ahsoka?" she asked suddenly, with a sharp stab of worry.

"She's fine. We dropped her off. Her and Rex had some other plans to pursue."

They walked the forested path, hearing the dead leaves and needles crunching underneath their boots. Hera led them to where the Glost was docked.

Zeb looked out from the top of the ramp and rushed down with a shout. He wrapped his arms around all three of them and he lifted them off the ground in one big hug. He laughed out loud, and punched Ezra on the shoulder.

"There goes having a cabin to myself," he finally said.

"I missed you too," Ezra answered and they clasped hands.

They walked up into the Ghost. Kanan, who had held on to Hera's hand all along, touched his free hand to the bulkhead.

"We're home," he said softly.

"All tucked in," Bell said coming through the doors from the crew cabins. She froze in her tracks at the sight of them all. Alexsandr came behind her.

"I'm dreaming," Bell muttered. Alexsandr squeezed her shoulders.

They hugged each other with muted exclamations.

"Come," Hera pulled Kanan along to her quarters. "There's one more crew member to meet." Sabine, Ezra and Chopper followed them in. Zeb, Bell and Alexsandr stopped in the open doorway.

Hera felt Kanan's hand shaking in hers. He held himself so still, yet he was practically vibrating with emotion.

"Jacen Syndulla, Spectre 7," she said by means of introduction. She watched Kanan's face as he took in their sleeping son. She laughed silently and wiped the tears from his face and beard, reacquainting herself with the texture of his skin.

Kanan knelt by the little boy, reaching out to touch him but hesitating, not wanting to wake him.

"What is he like?" he asked softly.

Hera smiled.

"Oh, you'll soon find out," she said in a knowing voice, and Chopper womped quietly beside them.

"What a day," Alexsandr said to Bell as they stepped back into the corridor. She leaned up against the bulkhead and watched Zeb, Sabine and Ezra come out of Hera's cabin and close the door behind them. They watched each other quietly.

"Turn in or holochess in the lounge?" Zeb asked.

Ezra put his arm around Zeb's shoulders. He was almost tall enough now to do it without reaching up. He smiled.

"I don't think I can sleep. Holochess if you're up for it, yes." He grinned. "You ready to lose again?"

Zeb grumbled.

"Just as long as you fill us in on what you've been doing these last five years, I will humour you and pretend to lose."

Ezra barked out a laugh.

"Alright," he conceded, "a story for a story." He looked around the corridor. "Just out of curiosity, what are the sleeping arrangements?"

"I guess you can bunk with me again," Zeb conceded with a long suffering sigh. He then pointed to a door over his shoulder. "That one belongs to Kallus & Kallus."

Ezra's eyebrows shot up. He gave Bell and Alexsandr an incredulous look, and she smiled and did a mock curtsy. Alexsandr grinned.

"Wow, didn't see that one coming," Ezra said. He looked at Sabine for support, but she offered none. She shrugged.

"I did," she admitted. She exchanged a look with Bell. "That one free?" Sabine gestured towards the last door.

"All yours," Zeb answered. "Now, come!" he barked. "Lounge! Story!"

"Fine, fine," Ezra mumbled. "Anything to eat around here?"

Zeb growled. "No. We gave half our rations to the locals. They were threatening to roast the stormtroopers."

Ezra barked out a laugh. They passed into the lounge, and Sabine followed them.

"Coming?" Bell asked Alexsandr.

He reached for her hand and pulled her to him. Their lips met and then he touched his forehead to hers.

"What is it?" she asked, pulling back to look at him.

He looked down at the floor, considering his words.

"I'll be there in a bit," he said.

"They asked you to lead intelligence for the clean-up crew," she guessed. She should have been the intelligence officer, he thought. There wasn't much that happened to him without her knowing about it even before he brought it up. He nodded.

"Let's finish what we started, Alex," Bell said.

"You didn't sign up to be a soldier for life." He knew she hoped for a quieter life. Maybe with the success from today, she would want to start leaving the war behind.

"No, but I did sign up to be the wife of one."

He glanced up at her sharply.

"You used to find rebel cells, remember?" she said with a smile. "At least now they really are the bad guys. I think you'll enjoy this part even more than the actual rebellion."

He looked back to the floor, and she laughed. "You don't have to be ashamed to admit it."

"I don't want to feel like Agent Kallus again," he said finally.

She pulled him close and kissed him.

"You didn't feel like "Agent Kallus" from the moment I saw you that first night on Yavin 4. It's not you anymore. You couldn't do it if you tried."

He squeezed her tight and placed his chin on top of her had with a sigh. He smiled into her hair. "Ok," he whispered.

She pulled out of his arms. "Watch out for hungry Ewoks."

"I will," he promised with a grin.

The night was full of sounds and scents of the forest. Most of the activity in the tree top village was dying down. The stars blinked through the swaying branches of the trees. Alexsandr pulled the sides of his jacket close.

He walked briskly to the clearing and set down the deep space communicator, opened the top and popped out the transmission dish. Being an intelligence officer, he carried his own and preferred to use it rather than rely on the Ghost's built in systems. He hesitated, his fingers lingering just above the controls. He took a deep breath. The air was clean and crisp and smelled of Endor's pines and soil and decomposing leaves.

The mountain had been moved. The reign of the Empire was over. They had been rebels, and now they would turn into the clean-up crew, flushing out Imperial pockets. He'd struggled to find his place in the Rebel Alliance. But this, this he was particularly good at. This was what he had trained to do. Bell was right to suspect he would enjoy it. He twirled the band on his left ring finger, and a smile lifted the corner of his mouth. He flipped the switch.


End file.
